Blink-Photo

Chorley council case study

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This commercial photography business was set up in 2006 by husband and wife team Steven and Emma Livesey.

Since then it has built up a reputation second to none as a specialist in its field now boasting leading name clients in the footwear, fashion, jewellery and home furnishings industries, with 22,000sq ft of studio space and 24 members of staff plus the use of freelancers.

Blink-Photo takes high quality photos for Marks and Spencer, Topps Tiles, House of Fraser, Accurist watches, Express Gifts, the JD Williams home shopping company, the likes of which include Jacamo, Fashion World and Simply Be to name but a few.

And this success story has grown literally by word of mouth and letting the quality of work speak for itself.

The highly experienced and creative team produce quality images for the internet, brochures, catalogues and advertising and offers a complete package tailor-made to a business’s needs, from creative style concepts to producing the final images. They can also design websites and logos through their sister company Origami Penguin which trades under Blink Photo Ltd and have just taken on a website developer to expand the business offer.

The people behind the business

Steven and Emma Livesey who live in nearby Euxton own Blink-Photo.

Steven had previously worked for other photographic studios before he and Emma, who used to work for Lloyds TSB set up their own business initially from a small room in Horwich.

Just three months after setting up, they took on a specialist in jewellery photography and also acquired a large bedding client so needed a larger space which they found in Leyland.

As the work came in, they realised they needed more space and so took on an additional studio just across the courtyard from the studio they had.

But as more and more work came in and they took on more and more people, they started searching round for bigger premises still.

Why we chose Chorley

Xton Business Park in Chorley is the ideal location for Blink-Photo with the space available to create large sets for the likes of home furnishing shots, to smaller table-top shots and a dedicated studio created especially to photograph fine jewellery.

Emma said: “Although many of our clients are city based in places such as Manchester, there really is no need for us to be there. We would never have been able to afford such large premises in Manchester, yet we are only 30 minutes away if we need to meet with our clients.

“The easy motorway access is vital for us and not just to meet up with clients. Although half our staff live locally to here, the other half are from the east of the county so there’s an easy motorway connection for them to get to work.”

Emma said: “We needed bigger premises, it wasn’t ideal with the two studios being separate, we needed to be all in one space. This place came up and it’s an older style building, full of character but it was huge and we never thought we’d fill the space. But when we took on the staff and workload of another photographic studio which had found themselves in financial difficulty, we doubled our size overnight and since then we’ve never had any trouble filling the space!

“We moved here three years ago initially renting but then we bought it in April last year.

“We’ve had a lot of help and advice from Chorley Council such as the possibility of a grant towards the cost of repairing the roof. They’ve also pointed us in the right direction for other grants and advice on apprenticeships.

Emma added: “It’s a good area to be in because of the transport links in particular and it’s growing all the time with Buckshaw Village and all businesses popping up there, plus there’s a lot of other big businesses in the area – and we live just down the road!